Each night, my daughter asks me to tell her a story. She often starts the
story giving me the characters and some of the plot, but I have to do the rest.
Some of these stories are interesting enough for me to drop up here.

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The story is similar to the Flanders and Swan song, "The Warthog". It's
one of my favorites. Except it's a warthog, and not a pig. And she dresses
up in a pink dress to try to look pretty. And I guess the end is different
too. Hmmm. Okay. I guess it's not that similar after all. But still, you
should look it up unless you already are familiar with the collection.

—Trent

Pig Makes New Friends

Once upon a time, in a forest far away, there lived a pig who was painfully
shy, and because of this affliction, the pig had no friends. Oh how he
wished to not be so shy, but he was somewhat embarrassed at being a pig.

"What a bore it must be to be me," he often said to himself as he looked
for food at the edge of the woods.

He was quite sure that if he could somehow be stronger, smarter, or
better-looking, then he would have the confidence to make some new
friends… and then, he wouldn't be so lonely.

So he thought his luck had changed (for better or worse) when he was
sniffing through the forest floor looking for truffles, when a fairy showed
up.

"What are you doing, pig?!" he screamed.

"Ah… I… I was… uhm, just… uhm… looking for… uhm… truffles,"
the pig finally managed to stutter out. Did I mention that his speaking
problem didn't help his shyness issue?

"You almost busted my house! You really should be more careful," replied
the fairy.

"I… I'm… uhm, so … sorry," apologized the pig, looking straight down
at the ground because he was so shy. Then he had an idea, and finally
managed to say, "If… uhm… you're mad and… uhm… want to turn me
into something… uhm, will you… I mean, you could… uhm… please make
me smarter, stronger, or perhaps better looking."

The fairy just laughed, "What do you take me for, a witch? I don't bother
with such stuff. Besides, you just might be stronger, smarter and better
looking than you think you are. Now shove off and look for mushrooms
somewhere else."

And so the pig did.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest lived a dragon who was terribly
lonely on account of his fierce and scary appearance. Now, he was a rather
small dragon as far as dragons go, but no one went near him due to the
large teeth and claws and bad reputation that others of his kind instill in
the hearts of cute woodland animals.

Needless to say, this dragon desperately wanted some friends. But every
time he tried, the other animals would just run away.

He thought to himself, "Maybe the creatures on the other side of the forest
wouldn't be so scared of me." And the first thing he met after crossing the
woods was our shy pig.

"Ah, hello there, Mr. Pig," said the dragon his most friendly, and only
slightly husky voice.

The pig, hearing someone approach, immediately looked down at the ground,
and didn't know that it was a dragon who spoke to him, "Ah… uhm… ah…
hello," the pig finally managed to reply.

"Would you like to play some ball?" asked the dragon.

"Ah… uhm… yeah, that would…" the pig didn't really finish his
sentence, as the dragon, giddy with joy, threw him the ball he was carrying.
The pig, still not looking up, noticed the ball bounce past him,
he found it, and threw it back… kinda.

The dragon, thinking the pig had a neck problem, didn't want to hurt his
feelings and started to roll the ball to the pig. After a little while, the
pig did finally look up and was amazed that such a big, strong dragon would
want to play with him. Then he remembered the fairy's words, and said to
himself, "Perhaps I am stronger than I thought I was."

And that is the story of how the pig and the dragon became good friends…

But our story isn't quite finished, for there was another lonely creature
in the forest. A beautiful unicorn with bright orange fur and a long pink
mane, and was so beautiful, that all the other animals of the forest thought
themselves too ugly and inferior to play or talk to such a beautiful creature.
"Besides, she probably has lots of other friends," they often thought to
themselves.

Now the pig still high from his friendship with the dragon, felt confident
enough to look for a new friend when there came a day when the dragon was
sick, and couldn't come over and play. When he crossed the woods and ran
into the unicorn, he really only noticed the tear drops from her eyes, for
his shyness had returned and he stared at the ground when he spoke.

"Uhm… why… I mean… how are… uhm… why are… you crying?" he
finally managed to ask the unicorn.

"I'm just lonely and was wanting a friend," the unicorn replied. Because
she was crying and her eyes were full of water, she didn't really notice
that he was a pig, but just thought he was a pretty pink creature of the
forest.

"Uhm… ah… would you… like to… uhm… play ball with… me?" the
pig asked. The unicorn was delighted, that she didn't even mind it when she
finally realized that she was playing ball with a pig.

The pig was amazed, however, when he finally looked up, to see that he was
playing ball with the most beautiful creature of the forest. Then he
remembered the fairy's words again. "Maybe I'm better looking than I
thought," he mused to himself.

He played with the unicorn for several days afterwards until the dragon was
finally better. The pig couldn't wait to tell the dragon the good news
about his new friend.

"Do you think that maybe, I could be the unicorn's friend too?" asked the
dragon. The pig didn't see why not, but the dragon told the pig of his
plight and how all the other creatures of the forest ran in hid every time
he came over.

Then the pig had an idea, and worked most of the day and made the dragon
some pink rabbit ears. "Here, put these on," he said to the dragon when
they were finished. "The unicorn couldn't be scared of you if you're as
harmless as a bunny." And with that, they started across the forest to
where the unicorn lived.

The unicorn was quite excited when she saw her friend the pig, but was
shocked to see the large dragon with the long teeth, the sharp claws and
the pink bunny ears. The dragon looked so ridiculous, that the unicorn
started laughing at such a sight, and didn't run away.

And so, after some introductions, and the removal of the silly bunny ears,
the three started playing ball. It was then that the pig remembered the
fairy's words again, and thought to himself, "I guess I am smart too."